Hideous electronic dismality from Comicide 24 on their Chronic Transfusion (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 355-2) record. This was an early manifestation of Stephen Ah Burroughs working with Eric Jurenovskis in a duo which may have existed around 1984, long enough to make a live cassette at any rate, before they recruited other members – notably the famed Justin Broadrick – and became Head Of David, everyone’s favourite assaultive noise rock band of that period. I can’t figure out if today’s release is new material, or something rescued from an earlier vintage, but the press blurb alludes to “almost three decades of silence” suggesting that the old gang have got it together again for the sake of showbiz. We’ve endured many suffocating records by Burroughs appearing solo as Tunnels Of Ah (on Cold Spring), but admittedly this is very different. Not as outright confrontational as you might expect, the emphasis here is more on coldness, alienation, and strange detuned sounds, expressed in the framework of completely unstructured and formless compositions. It’s a kind of hollow, clinical chaos; instead of brutalising industrial energy, this feels like a new development in psychological terror and doubt. (30/05/2025)
